Seeking Green Societies: From Expansionism to Holistic Ecology

Abstract

This essay opens the window to some of the economic, social and 'natural' components of the dominant ideology. It discusses these components as barriers that inhibit the creation of green societies, and proposes some solutions towards achieving a more preferable future. Specifically, it maintains that there is a need for expansionist (ever-expanding) societies to undergo a paradigm shift from the current industrial conception of nature to a more holistic and ecologically based interpretation of nature. It also argues that expansionist societies should renounce neoclassical economics in favour of ecological economics, as well as reject homogeneity and universalism in order to sustain cultural, biological and epistemological diversity. II Between the 16th and 18th centuries, expansionist societies began to perceive the world as a machine-like entity composed of physical properties and inanimate, dead matter. Life, consciousness, and humanity were to be explained, constructed, and examined as physical interchangeable parts. Organic ideologies which perceived the cosmos, nature, and humanity as a nurturing living whole embodying a soul, spirit, and emotions were to be suppressed by a dominant ideology that was overly linear in orientation. Economic life was to become mechanical in nature and disconnected from earthly processes. Nature and humanity (primarily along lines of race, class, and gender) were to be shaped by a mechanistic, 'scientific,' and 'rational' ideology. The dominant ideology with its associated values of power and control sanctioned the management of both nature and humanity (Merchant, 1990). Nature, women, people of colour, and wage labourers, to name a few, were set on a path towards a new status as natural and as human 'resources' for the expansionist system (Merchant, 1992). Moreover, consciousness itself had become just another 'resource' to be exploited (Tokar, 1987). This history of control, manipulation and management plagues contemporary praxis (theory and practice). The dominant ideology is not only more evident, but it is more destructive than ever before. This active and tangible ideology supported and reinforced by key actors, institutions, and processes has, for example, dramatically reduced biological and cultural diversity; legitimized mass tropical, temperate and boreal deforestation; created and accelerated stratospheric ozone layer depletion; and polluted the earth's air, land and water. In order to achieve sustainability, the dominant ideology will need to be challenged. It will need to be overcome by the strength of a more earthly praxis. The contemporary dominant ideology's construction of nature threatens any movement towards sustainability. For one, it positions humanity outside of nature. It attempts to separate human beings from the natural world, and suggests that human beings are fundamentally different from all other creatures on earth, over which they have authority. Moreover, the dominant ideology gives the impression that relationships are largely human-centred and disconnected from the natural world. It suggests that human affairs are not reliant on the lives of plants, animals, and the soil (Zimmerman, 1997). The dominant ideology also reinforces the perception that nature can be managed (particularly by powerful actors) (Drengson, 1983). Nature cannot be managed. Those who are in the position of power to manage are only managing their interactions with nature. Nature is not some static entity trapped under controlled conditions, but rather contains ever-changing self-organizing processes. Management goals that involve maintaining some fixed state in an ecosystem or maximizing some function (biomass, productivity, number of species) or minimising some other function (pest outbreak) will always lead to disaster at some point, no matter how well meaning they are (Kay & Schneider, 1994, p. 37). Nature contains balances, optimum points of operation, and these balances are constantly adjusting to suit changing environments. …